I should probably tell you guys that I don't have a beta... If you see any mistakes, my apologies, and I'd appreciate if you could point them out (either in a review or PM) so I can fix it.
So anyway! Chapter four, let's mock it like it's hot.
Disclaimer: Twilight still ain't mine.
Chapter Four
"What, so you just let her stay in your room last night?"
"Mhmm," Bella replied, not looking up from her notebook.
"And you only met her yesterday afternoon?" Angela asked, though it was more of a statement.
"Relax Ange, you're acting like I jumped into bed with her or something. I was just being nice."
"What's her name again?"
"Alice," Bella replied, unable to stop herself from smiling as she thought of the girl.
Angela noticed the look on Bella's face. "She might not even be into girls Bella."
"Jeez, you're starting to sound like you're jealous or something."
"Not jealous, worried. Remember what happened with Victoria last year?"
Of course she remembered. It had hurt her so much it was all she could think about for weeks afterwards.
"Alice isn't like that. And it doesn't even matter because I think you're right. She's probably not interested in girls anyway."
"Well don't feel discouraged. I'm just asking for you to be careful. Don't let yourself get hurt again."
Bella sighed and nodded, looking away from her friend and letting her eyes roam around the campus. The two were sitting on one of the picnic benches in the main courtyard and few students were up this early on a Saturday. Sure, it was almost midday, but when you sleep three to four hours a day, midday might as well be seven in the morning.
"How are you getting along with that assignment? Cullen really screwed your weekend over, huh?"
Bella sighed again. "Royally. I just need to collect a bit more info and reference it then I'll be done. It's not taking as long as I had thought, which I'm glad for."
"Well that's good. If you're done by tonight do you want to head over to the cafe with me, Jazz and Edward? As much as I love those two I'd rather not be a third wheel."
"I'll try my best to make it. How was the party last night?"
"Ooooh my god. I never knew Rosalie could dance like that."
Bella combed through her hair quickly, pulling it back into its usual high ponytail. She shifted nervously in her boots as she applied a bit of lip gloss and rubbed her lips together to even it out. Her jeans were well fitting as they were, but she decided to just wear a belt for the sake of it.
After she had fastened it, she grabbed the pile of sheets from the floor next to the spare bed and tossed them onto it. Something fell out of the pile, and her eyes caught sight of Alice's notebook that had gotten itself hidden underneath the sheets. Alice had been about to remake the bed and had just managed to strip the sheets when Bella had woken up and insisted she would take care of it herself. Alice must be looking for it like crazy. Looking at her wrist watch, Bella figured she had enough time to go and return it to her.
She grabbed her favorite leather jacket that her mom had given her back in high school and threw it on. It was getting cooler by the day it seemed, and a t-shirt alone would be useless against the cold.
It took her nearly ten minutes to reach the end of the campus where Alice's dorm should be. When she entered the building, most of the chatter died down to a whisper as the first years turned to look at her the way one would at seeing a dog walking on its front legs.
I'm guessing they don't get a lot of visitors, Bella thought to herself.
She walked up to the pin board that was mounted on the wall near the entrance. She scanned the room list that was posted there, glad that they hadn't yet removed it as they tended to after the first few weeks. She quickly found Brandon and look across to see the room number 105 then made her way to the elevator.
The noise had slowly started to increase again once the initial surprise had seemed to wear off and Bella was relieved that she didn't seem to be in the spotlight anymore.
The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival to the ground floor and Bella stepped in, pressing the button for the fourth floor and settling back against the railing. The elevator was as slow as Bella remembered it and she sighed then looked down at the notebook in her hand.
Curiously, she opened it to the first page and saw "Architecture" written in an elegant script with colorful swirls and stars and circles all around it. Bella smiled at how much Alice seemed to like the subject, despite the workload she had complained about yesterday.
Turning the pages slowly, she glanced up at the little light above the elevator door and rolled her eyes when she saw that it hadn't even reached the second floor yet. When she looked back down, she saw the page that Alice had been working on the previous night. Her eyes were drawn to another doodle that was in the bottom left corner of the page. Her name, written in that same swirly handwriting, with small red hearts in between the letters.
She felt a blush creep up on her face and her heart pick up a fast pace again. She couldn't stop looking at it and thinking of the implications of the doodle, so when the elevator finally dinged loudly as it arrived to the fourth floor, she nearly dropped the book when she jumped.
Shaking her head, she made her way out of the elevator and looked for Alice's door. When she reached it, she heard loud music coming from inside and figured she wouldn't be heard if she knocked so she just opened the door.
Then scene she saw as she entered made her vision blur with anger and she quickly strode across the room and pulled the blonde girl away from Alice who was cowering against a corner with her face hidden between her knees.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
There was a flash of fear in the blonde girl's eyes before she settled into an unimpressive glare, directed at the obviously much taller girl.
"It's none of your business."
"Alice is my friend so her safety is my business. You do realize that if I report you to the dean you could get suspended or worse." The girl's eyes widened and she tried to stammer out a response. "Save it. Should I catch you or hear about you bothering Alice again, I swear you'll regret the day you walked onto this campus."
She ignored the rapid nod from the girl and turned her attention to Alice who had now looked up and was looking up at Bella with relief clear in her eyes.
"You forgot your notebook in my room," Bella said, holding it up. Alice's eyes widened and blood rushed to her cheeks as she stood up and took it from her.
"You didn't open it, did you?"
"Just a few pages. I can tell you really love your major from all of the doodles I came across," Bella raised an eyebrow and smirked when the blush on Alice's cheeks intensified.
"W-Well it's um...it's a fun subject." Bella chuckled at how adorable Alice was when she stuttered like that.
"Are you doing anything tonight?"
Alice shook her head. "Not really."
"I'm gonna go with a few friends of mine to a cafe down the street. Do you want to come?"
"Well I don't have that much money with me-"
"Oh don't worry about that. I'll cover you. Come on, it's a Saturday. I promise it'll be fun." It took a little more coaxing, but Alice finally agreed, grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathroom to change.
Lauren felt like she would drown in the tension as she sat quietly on her bed, feeling the older girl's eyes on her. Each time she glanced up from the book she was pretending to read, she was met by an unwavering cool gaze that betrayed no emotion. It was like she was being calculated and she never felt more open or intimidated in her life. She felt like each breath did not go by unnoticed and she prayed silently that Alice would hurry up so she could leave and take her friend with her. The older girl did nothing but watch her silently, swinging her right leg while the left was tucked under her where she sat on top of Alice's desk.
Eventually, Alice stepped out, wearing a pair of black pants and a top that Bella thought made her look adorable.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, I just need to find my phone." Eventually, Alice had to use Bella's phone to find her own which turned out to be hidden underneath her bed. She tried not to stare at Bella's behind in those snug jeans when she reached under the bed and pulled the phone out.
"Here you go. And now I have your number, one less thing I have to ask for," Bella said with a playful smile that left Alice blushing as she followed her out the door.
Thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad to see that so many of you enjoy reading this :)
By the way, with school starting up tomorrow I might not be able to update the story everyday as I have been so far. I won't keep weeks between updates, but it will become slightly irregular.
